2019–20 SEHA League

The 2019–20 SEHA League season is the ninth season of the SEHA (South East Handball Association) League and sixth under the sponsorship of the Russian oil and gas company Gazprom. Twelve teams from nine countries (Belarus, Croatia, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia and China are participating in this year's competition.[1] On 13 August the Executive Committee of the SEHA – Gazprom League has made a decision that because of the crucial disagreements over conditions regarding the participation in the 2019/20 season, Tatabánya will not participate in the SEHA – Gazprom League this season.[2]

2019–20 SEHA League season
LeagueSEHA League
SportHandball
Duration3 September 2019–5 April 2020
Number of games80
Number of teams12
 Belarus (1 team)
 China (1 team)
 Croatia (2 teams)
 Hungary (1 team)
 North Macedonia (2 teams)
 Russia (1 team)
 Serbia (2 teams)
 Ukraine (1 team)
 Slovakia (1 team)
Regular season
Top scorer Mikita Vailupau
(103 goals)
Final Four

Vardar are the defending champions.

Competition format

Twelve teams, divided into two groups participated in the competition. Groups A and B were played with six teams each, in a round robin, home and away format. The top two teams in each group qualified directly for the quarter-finals, while the teams that finish the Group Phase in positions 3–6 played in the Play off phase.[3]

Play off Phase

8 teams played home and away in the Play off phase, with the teams that finish the Group Phase in positions 3–6.

Quarter-finals

The four winners of the matches in the Play off phase will be joined by the top two of Groups A and B to play home and away for the right to contest the SEHA Final 4.

SEHA Final 4

The culmination of the season, the SEHA Final 4, continues in its existing format, with the four top teams from the competition competing for the title over one weekend. The host and schedule for this year's Final Four tournament was announced on 25 February 2020.

Team information

The SEHA – Gazprom League Executive Committee made decision that 12 participants will play in two groups in the upcoming season. Telekom Veszprem, Motor Zaporozhye, Eurofarm Pelister, Metaloplastika Sabac, HC Spartak Moscow and Beijing Sport University are the new clubs that will join the 9th SEHA – Gazprom League season.[4][5]

Venues and locations
Country Team City Venue (Capacity)
Belarus Meshkov Brest Brest Universal Sports Complex Victoria (3,740)
China Beijing Sport University Beijing1 Dom sportova 2, Zagreb (3,100)[6]
Croatia PPD Zagreb Zagreb Dom sportova 2 (3,100)
Nexe Našice Sportska dvorana kralja Tomislava (2,500)
Hungary Telekom Veszprém Veszprém Veszprém Aréna (5,096)
Macedonia Vardar Skopje Jane Sandanski Arena (6,500)
Eurofarm Pelister Bitola Sports Hall Boro Čurlevski (3,700)
Serbia Metaloplastika Šabac Zorka Hall (3,000)
Vojvodina Novi Sad Sportski centar Slana Bara (2,000)
Russia Spartak Moscow Moscow Dynamo Sports Palace (5,000)
Ukraine Motor Zaporozhye Zaporizhia Yunost Sport Hall (3,600)
Slovakia Tatran Prešov Prešov Tatran Handball Arena (4,870)
Notes
1 Beijing Sport University will play all of their home matches in Zagreb, Croatia.

Personnel and kits

Following is the list of clubs competing in 2019–20 SEHA League, with their manager, team captain, kit manufacturer and shirt sponsor.

Team Head coach Team captain Kit manufacturer
Meshkov Brest Raúl Alonso Ivan Pesic Joma
PPD Zagreb Veselin Vujović Zlatko Horvat Hummel
Nexe Hrvoje Horvat Vedran Zrnić Jako
Vardar Stevče Aluševski Stojanče Stoilov Hummel
Eurofarm Pelister Željko Babić Goce Ojleski Unit Sport
Telekom Veszprém David Davis Máté Lékai Adidas
Vojvodina Boris Rojević Vukašin Stojanović NAAI
Tatran Prešov Slavko Goluža Radovan Pekár ATAK
Metaloplastika Veselin Vuković Borivoje Đukić Unit Sport
Motor Zaporizhia Rostislav Lanevich Zakhar Denysov Hummel
Spartak Moscow Igor Lyovshin Dimitry Kovalev Puma
Beijing Sport University Vlado Šola Wang Wei Hummel

Coaching changes
Round Club Outgoing coach Date of change Incoming coach
3rd PPD Zagreb Branko Tamše[7] 24 September 2019 Veselin Vujović
5th Vardar David Pisonero[8] 17 October 2019 Eduard Koksharov
7th Motor Zaporozhye Mykola Stepanets[9] 12 November 2019 Rostislav Lanevich
7th Eurofarm Pelister Stevče Aluševski[10] 24 November 2019 Božidar Mojsov
10th Vardar Eduard Koksharov[11] 28 December 2019 Stevče Aluševski
10th Eurofarm Pelister Božidar Mojsov[12] 8 January 2020 Željko Babić

Group phase

In the Group Phase, each team played ten matches within their respective groups. Five matches were played at home, and five matches away. The final position after the ten rounds determined if a club will play in the Play off phase or if they will earn a direct placement to the Quarter finals phase.[13][14]

Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification VAR ZAP PRE VOJ NEX BEJ
1 Vardar 10 8 0 2 319 291 +28 24[lower-alpha 1] Quarter finals — 44–37 28–26 26–23 27–25 37–23
2 Motor Zaporozhye 10 8 0 2 314 274 +40 24[lower-alpha 1] 32–31 — 29–23 37–29 33–31 41–19
3 Tatran Prešov 10 5 0 5 262 242 +20 15[lower-alpha 2] Playoffs 22–29 24–25 — 22–18 24–22 38–25
4 Vojvodina 10 5 0 5 269 265 +4 15[lower-alpha 2] 33–35 25–22 23–22 — 29–23 38–25
5 Nexe 10 4 0 6 299 268 +31 12 42–26 25–28 24–25 32–24 — 40–26
6 Beijing Sport University 10 0 0 10 235 358 −123 0 28–36 23–30 19–36 21–28 26–35 —
Source: SEHA
Notes:
  1. Vardar 75–69 Motor Zaporozhye
  2. Tatran Prešov 44–41 Vojvodina

Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification VES ZAG MES PEL MET SPA
1 Telekom Veszprém 10 8 0 2 306 265 +41 24 Quarter finals — 36–28 32–23 35–24 36–29 37–32
2 PPD Zagreb 10 7 0 3 289 259 +30 21 23–26 — 30–24 24–23 30–25 30–17
3 Meshkov Brest 10 6 0 4 307 279 +28 18 Playoffs 27–28 33–29 — 31–22 32–21 35–24
4 Eurofarm Pelister 10 4 0 6 279 275 +4 12[lower-alpha 1] 26–24 27–28 32–35 — 32–21 34–29
5 Metaloplastika 10 4 0 6 272 302 −30 12[lower-alpha 1] 30–26 25–28 35–33 27–26 — 27–23
6 Spartak Moscow 10 1 0 9 254 327 −73 3 23–26 23–39 26–34 21–33 36–32 —
Source: SEHA
Notes:
  1. Eurofarm Pelister 58–48 Metaloplastika

Play offs

The Play off phase was made up of two matches for each participating team, one match played at home and one match played away. The teams that finished the Group Phase in positions 3–6 played in the Play off phase.

Overview

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Spartak Moscow 45–63 Tatran Prešov 23–31 22–32
Metaloplastika 48–51 Vojvodina 24–25 24–26
Nexe 45–44 Eurofarm Pelister 23–20 22–24
Beijing Sport University 49–87 1 Meshkov Brest 26–46 23–41
Notes
1 Both legs were hosted by Meshkov Brest.

Matches
2 February 2020
17:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)		 Spartak Moscow 23–31 Tatran Prešov Dynamo Sports Palace, Moscow
Attendance: 250
Referees: Nabokau, Kulik (BLR)
Vinogradov 6 (13–15) Rábek 9
2× 6× Report 1× 4×
8 February 2020
18:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)		 Tatran Prešov 32–22 Spartak Moscow Tatran Handball Arena, Prešov
Attendance: 2,475
Referees: Boričič, Marković (SRB)
Rábek 9 (16–11) Voiniush 5
1× 6× Report 2× 4×

Tatran Prešov won 63–45 on aggregate.

2 February 2020
19:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)		 Metaloplastika 24–25 Vojvodina Zorka Hall, Šabac
Attendance: 1,500
Referees: Gubica, Milošević (CRO)
Milić 8 (14–12) Nikolić 7
1× 4× 1× Report 2× 7×
11 February 2020
17:15 CEST (UTC+02:00)		 Vojvodina 26–24 Metaloplastika Sportski centar Slana Bara, Novi Sad
Attendance: 552
Referees: Nachevski, Nikolov (MKD)
Grozdanić 5 (11–12) Milić 5
2× 9× Report 2× 7×

Vojvodina won 51–48 on aggregate.

1 February 2020
15:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)		 Nexe 23–20 Eurofarm Pelister Sportska dvorana kralja Tomislava, Našice
Attendance: 2,150
Referees: Horváth, Márton (HUN)
B. Jaman, Kević 4 (10–9) Ostroushko 7
2× 3× Report 2× 1×
12 February 2020
20:15 CEST (UTC+02:00)		 Eurofarm Pelister 24–22 Nexe Sports Hall Boro Čurlevski, Bitola
Attendance: 3,000
Referees: Nikolić, Stojković (SRB)
Jotić 5 (13–10) Severec 5
2× 2× Report 3× 4×

Nexe won 45–44 on aggregate.

2 March 2020
16:15 CEST (UTC+02:00)		 Beijing Sport University 26–46 Meshkov Brest Sportshall Victoria, Brest
Attendance: 215
Referees: Antashev, Musatov (RUS)
Qinglong 6 (14–20) Baranau 8
1× 5× Report 1× 4×
3 March 2020
16:15 CEST (UTC+02:00)		 Meshkov Brest 41–23 Beijing Sport University Sportshall Victoria, Brest
Attendance: 165
Referees: Antashev, Musatov (RUS)
Baranau 9 (20–11) Juncheng 5
2× 1× Report 2× 4×

Meshkov Brest won 87–49 on aggregate. won 45–44 on aggregate.

Quarter-finals

There will be eight teams competing in the quarter-finals phase. Four teams will have earned a direct placement after the Group Phase, and four additional teams will have earned a quarter-finals spot through the playoff phase.

The SEHA – Gazprom League’s commissioner on Friday 13 March 2020 has made a decision to postpone SEHA - Gazprom League Quarter final 2nd leg matches: Telekom Veszprem – Vojvodina (14 March 2020) and Vardar - Nexe (15 March 2020), due to the ongoing developments in the spread of COVID-19 across Europe. All further updates will be published accordingly.[15]

Overview

Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Nexe – Vardar 30–31 TBD
Vojvodina – Telekom Veszprém 26–31 TBD
Meshkov Brest 63–56 Motor Zaporozhye 30–28 33–28
Tatran Prešov 37–53 PPD Zagreb 21–25 16–28

Matches
8 March 2020
17:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)		 Nexe 30–31 Vardar Sportska dvorana kralja Tomislava, Našice
Attendance: 2,560
Referees: Brunovský, Čanda (SVK)
Pešić 7 (15–15) Dibirov 12
2× 4× Report 1× 2×
Vardar v Nexe Jane Sandanski Arena, Skopje
Report
8 March 2020
13:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)		 Vojvodina 26–31 Telekom Veszprém Sportski centar Slana Bara, Novi Sad
Attendance: 1,250
Referees: Metalari, Nikolovski (MKD)
Stojković 9 (10–15) Štrlek 7
2× 5× Report  6×
Telekom Veszprém v Vojvodina Veszprém Aréna, Veszprém
Report
7 March 2020
15:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)		 Meshkov Brest 30–28 Motor Zaporozhye Sportshall Victoria, Brest
Attendance: 1,000
Referees: Pandžić, Mošorinski (SRB)
Shkurinskiy 6 (16–15) Ganchev 6
3× 1× Report 2× 2×
12 March 2020
17:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)		 Motor Zaporozhye 28–33 Meshkov Brest Yunost Sport Hall, Zaporizhia
Attendance: 200
Referees: Gubica, Milošević (CRO)
Pukhouski 7 (11–15) Vailupau 8
3× 5× Report  3×

Meshkov Brest won 63–56 on aggregate.

7 March 2020
17:15 CEST (UTC+02:00)		 Tatran Prešov 21–25 PPD Zagreb Tatran Handball Arena, Prešov
Attendance: 1,439
Referees: Nachevski, Nikolov (MKD)
Pacheco 9 (11–11) Mandić 6
3× 4× 1× Report 3× 6× 1×
11 March 2020
20:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)		 PPD Zagreb 28–16 Tatran Prešov Dom sportova 2, Zagreb
Attendance: 0
Referees: Todorovski, Mitrevski (MKD)
Božović, Horvat 6 (12–9) Pacheco 4
1× 2× Report 2× 2×

PPD Zagreb won 53–37 on aggregate.

Final Four

The four winners of the quarter-final matches qualify for the right to contest the SEHA final four. The SEHA - Gazprom League Executive Committee had made the decision for the final four tournament to be held at the Krešimir Ćosić Hall in Zadar, Croatia, on 3 and 5 April 2020.[16] Due to the current situation in the spread of COVID-19 across Europe and further objective reasons, SEHA Executive Committee has made a decision to postpone the Final 4 indefinitely. All further updates will be published accordingly.[17]

Bracket

 
SemifinalsFinal
 
      
 
TBD
 
 
 
 
TBD
 
 PPD Zagreb
 
 
 
TBD
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Meshkov Brest
 
Third place
 
 
TBD
 
 
 
 
 
 

Semifinals
WQF1 v PPD Zagreb Krešimir Ćosić Hall, Zadar
WQF2 v Meshkov Brest Krešimir Ćosić Hall, Zadar

Match for third place
LSF1 v LSF2 Krešimir Ćosić Hall, Zadar

Final
WSF1 v WSF2 Krešimir Ćosić Hall, Zadar

Top goalscorers
As of 12 March 2020
Rank Player Club Goals[18]
1 Mikita Vailupau Meshkov Brest 103
2 Timur Dibirov Vardar 58
Lovro Jotić Eurofarm Pelister

References
  1. "Participants for the 2019/20 season are known". SEHA League. 19 July 2019.
  2. "Decision of Executive Committee regarding HC Grundfos Tatabanya". SEHA League. 13 August 2019.
  3. "SEHA – Gazprom League 2019/2020 Playing system". SEHA League. 17 July 2019.
  4. "SEHA Gazprom League 2019/2020 with 12 teams – The one is coming from China". Planet Handball. 19 July 2019.
  5. "HC Spartak become the first SEHA club from Russia". SEHA League. 13 August 2019.
  6. "Decision of Executive Committee regarding HC Grundfos Tatabanya". SEHA League. 13 August 2019.
  7. "Veselin Vujovic to re-take RK PPD Zagreb". HandballPlanet. 24 September 2019.
  8. "CHANGE IN RK VARDAR – Koksharov first coach, Pisonero assistant!". HandballPlanet. 17 October 2019.
  9. "Changes in Motor Zaporozhye's coaching position". SEHA League. 12 November 2019.
  10. "Stevche Alushovski is no longer Eurofarm Rabotnik's coach". SEHA League. 24 November 2019.
  11. "Вардар доби нов тренер: Алушовски ќе го води европскиот шампион!". Gol.mk. 28 December 2019.
  12. "ОФИЦИЈАЛНО: Бивш хрватски селектор е нов тренер на Еурофарм Пелистер". Gol.mk. 8 January 2020.
  13. "Competition calendar for 9th season confirmed". SEHA League. 1 July 2019.
  14. "Improved competitive balance and new SEHA groups". SEHA League. 15 August 2019.
  15. "Update on SEHA Quarter final 2nd leg matches". SEHA League. 13 March 2020.
  16. "Place of the 9th SEHA - Gazprom League Final 4 is known!". SEHA League. 25 February 2020.
  17. "Update on SEHA – Gazprom League Final 4". SEHA League. 17 March 2020.
  18. Goalscorers
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